Vehicle systems may be formed from one or more propulsion-generating vehicles and/or non-propulsion generating vehicles that travel together along routes. The movement of these vehicles may be controlled by an operator onboard one of the vehicles.
There may be a desire to remotely control one or more operations of the vehicle. In order for the vehicle system to be remotely controlled by a remote operator, control of the movement of the vehicle system may need to transfer from an onboard control system to a remote-control system or from a remote-control system to an onboard control system. This situation may occur, for example, only when the vehicle system is in a particular location/region, and the vehicle system experiences a certain condition, or based on the request and/or condition of the local or remote operators. For example, the movement of the vehicle system may need to be controlled by an operator onboard the vehicle system if the vehicle system is traveling through a congested area (e.g., a city). Alternatively, the movement of the vehicle system may need to be controlled by a remote operator if the vehicle system is traveling through a non-congested area (e.g., on a plane outside of a city). Alternatively, the movement of the vehicle system may be controlled by an operator onboard the vehicle system if there has been a communication loss between the remote-control system and the vehicle system.
Transferring control of a vehicle system, however, may be a dangerous endeavor. The remote operator remotely controlling the vehicle system needs to be assured that the remote operator has control of the movement of the vehicle system and that local controls are inactivated. Furthermore, an operator onboard and/or near the vehicle system needs to be assured that the remote operator is remotely controlling the vehicle system. Failure to successfully transfer control of the vehicle system or failure to notify one or more operators onboard or off-board the vehicle system may lead to costly errors with potentially catastrophic results.